Preliminary Development of an Integrated Mobility, Lethality, and Survivability Soldier Performance Testing Platform

Developing a methodology that incorporates objective measures of performance and is sensitive to changes in soldier-system equipment could help guide equipment manufacturers during product development and acquisition.

Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, Natick, Massachusetts

In 2017, the US Army announced their modernization priorities as a means of maintaining their military strength. Six specific areas were targeted for focus improvement and development, with the first five being specific technologies or end products. The sixth was “Soldier Lethality” or a soldier's ability to shoot, move, communicate, protect and sustain by improving human performance and decision making. In an effort to support this priority area for those trying to make clothing and individual equipment (CIE) acquisition and development decisions, there is a desire for an integrated or holistic objective tool to measure soldier performance, specifically mobility, lethality and survivability incorporating underlying measures of human factors, biomechanics and cognition.

Defense research organizations from Australia, Canada, Singapore and the United States use the Load Effects Assessment Program (LEAP), a military mission obstacle course originally developed by the US Marine Corps, to assess the impact of CIE on dismounted warfighter performance and, specifically, mobility. The standardized LEAP test platform includes a 10-station obstacle course, in addition to static simulated rifle firing, vertical jump, and weight transfer activities.